November 28, 2005

Fascinating bit of coverage

Seventy percent of people said criticism of the war by Democratic senators hurts troop morale — with 44 percent saying morale is hurt "a lot," according to a poll taken by RT Strategies. Even self-identified Democrats agree: 55 percent believe criticism hurts morale while 21 percent say it helps morale.

The results surely will rankle many Democrats, who argue it is patriotic and supportive of the troops to call attention to what they believe are deep flaws in President Bush's Iraq strategy. But the survey itself cannot be dismissed as a partisan attack. The RTs in RT Strategies are Thomas Riehle, a Democrat, and Lance Tarrance, a veteran GOP pollster.

Their poll also indicates many Americans are skeptical of Democratic complaints about the war. Just three of 10 adults accept that Democrats are leveling criticism because they believe this will help U.S. efforts in Iraq. A majority believes the motive is really to "gain a partisan political advantage."

A plurality, 49 percent, believe that troops should come home only when the Iraqi government can provide for its own security, while 16 percent support immediate withdrawal, regardless of circumstances.

There are a couple of interesting things about this. It originated with the Washington Post, written by Chris Cillizza and Peter Slevin, and tucked away on page A04 of the Saturday edition. The headline: Sympathetic Vibrations. Grabs your attention, doesn't it! In that same article, the opinion poll reporting was "balanced" by news of the disposition of campaign contributions from a Republican contributor who was indicted for campaign finance violations. The story said recipients were donating the questionable funding to charity. See? There's no bias at the Post. Although, it's funny how polls that show low approval of the President always make the front page. In the meantime five papers including the Union Leader picked up the story. These include the Buffalo News, the Bremerton Sun, the Canton Repository, and The Daily of the University of Washington-Seattle. That doesn't give the story much legs, but it's something.

My initial reaction to the story itself was very positive. I thought, an opinion poll is one thing the Democrats might pay attention to. Maybe now those traitorous bastards will stop delivering messages of encouragement to the insurgent terrorists who are setting off bombs and trying to kill our troops. I won't hold my breathe.